1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed in general to field of information processing. In one aspect, the present invention relates to the transfer of information over a common interface between base station radio equipment and/or control devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In wireless communication systems, base station systems are used to facilitate wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. Typically, a base station system includes at least one radio equipment device (RE) and at least one radio equipment control device (REC) which are configured to exchange signals through a physical circuit or interface, such as a common public radio interface (CPRI) interface over which different information flows (User Plane data, Control & Management (C&M) Plane data, and Synchronization Plane data) are multiplexed. While CPRI links may be used to connect RE device(s) and REC device(s) in a variety of network topologies (e.g., chain, tree, and ring topologies), there are challenges presented with conveying an information flow over a CPRI link that is shared by more than one RE device and/or REC device. For example, in a daisy chain configuration of a REC device and two or more RE devices, an RE device that receives monitoring and control information from a downstream RE device must control the insertion of its own monitoring and control information over the shared CPRI link so as to ensure the proper communication of monitoring and control information to the upstream REC device.